As our computing lives continue moving to “the cloud” (remote data centers), cooling has become an increasingly difficult and expensive task for those who operate data centers. Today, most data centers are air-cooled, except for some mainframes. Green Revolution Cooling goes against the grain and proposes a solution called Carnojet that can save up to 95% of cooling cost.
It works by immerging the computer in GreenDEF, their own clear, non-toxic and odorless version of a *non-conductive* fluid called “Dielectric Fluid“. This liquid is largely used in other industries as “cutting fluid” to stabilize the tools temperature. The liquid transfers the heat much better than air, and can hold 1200 times more heat as well. Even at room temperature, the liquid can provide excellent cooling. Data-centers are usually air conditioned, which requires a lot of energy.
It’s not hard to imagine that retro-fitting a normal data center is not going to be easy, so this type of cooling is probably more adapted to new constructions. You need a place where water spills can be handled easily. However, “not easy” doesn’t mean impossible. It is possible to install this system in an existing data center.
One possible issue that I would like to know more about is the “stackability” of this setup. From what I can tell, it’s not easy to have more computers vertically and I suspect that the computer density is probably higher in a normal data center. Now, there’s surely a tradeoff between energy savings and possible higher square footage requirement, but the 95% in energy savings can’t be ignored forever. In the meantime, it’s probably cleaner that this oil-submerged PC that we spotted a while back.
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